Twist of Fate Redux
by Yellowberri
Summary: Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, after the burning of the Gray Terminal, decide to sail out on their own ten years ahead of schedule. They catch the attention of the Whitebeard Pirates. This is a retelling of the original Twist of Fate by Takuku. Explanation of why the original never updated is in the author's note.
1. Adventure Restart

**Okay, so I have a lot of explaining to do. If you're just here for the story, then feel free to skip the Author's Note.**

**So why is someone who isn't Takuku redoing the story? Well, surprise! I AM Takuku! Yeah, funny story. After chapter 20 of the Original Twist of Fate went up, my computer straight up died with no chance of revival. So when I got a new laptop 2 years later I tried to log back in only to have my lazy habits bite me in the ass. I had saved my password on google, and I couldn't remember for the life of me what it was. So I went to change it only to realize that I had the same problem with my email. In one fowl swoop I had lost access to my fanfiction account AND my email! So I did what anyone would do after sulking for several months, I moved on with my life... or so I tried. I had such high hopes for this fanfiction. I had and still have a bunch of neat ideas for it. So after a while I was like "screw it!" and here we are. I will be making tweaks here and there, and I no longer agree with everything I wrote back then. Being older will change your perspective on things. I also like to think I improved on my writing since then, but I will let you be the judge of that! I hope you enjoy take two of my fanfiction baby!**

**I do not own One Piece!**

_Gotta hurry! Gotta hurry! Please be okay! Gotta hurry!_

These thoughts were repeating themselves through Sabo's mind as he made a mad dash through town to get to the Gray Terminal. He had just managed to escape his "family". He used the term loosely since he considered Ace and Luffy to be his real family. Speaking of those two, he had to hurry! They were in great danger!

"Yes! The gate is still open!" He cheered as he ran through the gate. If the gate was open, that meant he still had time.

"Ace! Luffy! Where are you?!" He called out to his brothers in the hopes that they would hear. When he received no answer he called again. He ran around the large dump shouting and listening for any response.

"Sabo? Is that you?!" He finally got one from inside Bluejam's ship.

"Ace?!" Sabo called back as he climbed onto the ship.

"Sabo! You're back!" Luffy cheered. His voice was also inside. He found them both! He ran through the door their voices were coming from and froze when he saw the two tied up. Bluejam wanted his brothers to die in the fire?! As if he could hate the man anymore than he already did.

"Thank god you're here! Quick! Untie us before the fire starts!" Ace shouted in relief. This snapped Sabo from his brooding, and he quickly untied the two brunettes. Rubbery arms immediately circled around him as soon as they were free.

"Sabo! I'm so happy to see you!" Luffy cried into his chest.

"We can hug things out later, Luffy. Right now we need to get out of here." Ace said as he tried in vain to get Luffy to let go.

"Ace is right. We don't want to be caught up in the fire." Sabo pointed out, and Luffy reluctantly let go. He gave the two of them a tearful nod, and they all ran out of the ship. They dodged around trash heaps, and made a bee-line for the safety of the forest. They had just made it to the tree line when an explosion made them halt.

All three of them turned around as one to see the horror that they had just managed to escape. The first explosion was followed by several more, and screams rose into the air along with the smoke and ash. Sabo couldn't tear his eyes away. He was transfixed by the carnage in front of him, and he could tell from his peripheral vision that Ace and Luffy were too. The fire had reached its crescendo when he felt Ace pull at him.

"Dammit! We need to get further in!" He shouted, and Sabo forced his legs to move.

XxXxXxXxX

"We can't stay here any longer! We gotta move!" Ace demanded as he ran around their tree house, collecting their pipes.

"What? Why?" Luffy asked.

"You saw what happened, Luffy! The nobles took Sabo away and tried to kill us! Do you want them to take Sabo again?" Ace asked, and Luffy's eyes widened in clear panic.

"Hang on, Ace. Have you thought about this? I mean really thought about it? We need plenty of food, a compass, a boat-"

"Dammit Sabo! Of course I have, but those bastards could be rounding up survivors to kill right now. There is a small boat we can use that will get us to the next island, and we can really prepare then. But we have to get our asses moving!" Ace stressed, and went back to rounding up their few meager possessions.

"I doubt they'll act that quickly. A trip takes time and resources to prepare for. What's wrong with our original plan?" Sabo asked.

"Plans changed. Now hurry!" Ace said, and Sabo sighed in defeat. He was beyond reasoning when he got like this.

"I got our flag!" Luffy yelled as he came back down from the crow's nest.

"Good thinking, Lu! We don't want to sail off without it!" Ace declared.

"Look, if we're going to sail off anyway, then we should at least hunt for a gator or two at the very least." Sabo pitched in, trying to bring some semblance of forethought into this impulsive excursion.

"One will be enough. We don't have time for more than that." Ace said as he ran to the entrance of their tree house with pipe at hand.

"Do you not remember how much we eat?! Ace!" Sabo yelled after the freckled boy.

"Hurry, Sabo! Ace is right! We gotta get moving!" Luffy pitched in, and ran after Ace. Sabo growled in frustration before joining in on the hunting party.

XxXxXxXxX

Aaaaaceee! Saaaaboooo! I'm hungry!" Luffy whined for the umpteenth time since they left Dawn Island a few days ago. All three of them were in the small boat Ace had told them about, and were using their pipes as makeshift fishing rods.

"Shut up, or you'll scare the fish away!" Ace shouted back. He was clearly annoyed with Luffy's whining, and Sabo couldn't help but feel a little smug at this.

"If you had just listened to me, Ace, we would have plenty of food and Luffy wouldn't be complaining." he couldn't help but chime in.

"Oh what! And let those noble bastards take you again? Fat chance!" Ace growled.

"I don't want you to go away ever again, Sabo!" Luffy dropped his pipe to hug the blond. Sabo patted Luffy on the back.

"Don't worry Luffy. I'm never going back to those stuck up jerks." He gave his youngest brother a reassuring smile. He was rewarded with a bright smile that only Luffy could give.

"Say, what island are we going to anyway?" Ace asked after a moment of silence.

"Conomi Island. It's the closest one, and considering how a certain brother was ignored when it came to preparing for this trip-"

"Will you let that go? I'm not sorry, and I have no regrets in getting you away from that place!" Ace frowned.

Sabo sighed, and went back to his fishing. The other two quieted down as well. He understood where Ace was coming from, and on some level was very grateful, but it didn't take all that much time to hunt for a little extra food. Sabo shook his head, and hoped they caught enough fish to sustain them until the next island.

XxXxXxXxX

"Remind me again why you needed to tag along, Marco?" Thatch sighed in frustration.

"Because the last time you went to one of the blues alone you weren't heard from for three months." Marco explained like an exasperated mother.

"All I did was take a small vacation." Thatch mumbled.

"Small?" Marco scoffed. "Three months is a quarter of a year! The whole crew was worried sick!"

Thatch shrugged his shoulders and said, "Time flies when you aren't bogged down with paperwork."

"But you had a whole pile of it waiting for you when you came back." Marco responded, and leaned against the railing of the deck.

"You got me there, but I promise I wasn't going to go on vacation this time! Pop's wrath was enough of a deterrent to make me reconsider any future excursions." Thatch sulked a little, and Marco snorted. They drifted off into silence and Thatch thought back on what brought them to the East Blue to begin with.

XxXxXxXxX

_Thatch waited with the rest of the crew that was out on the deck. Whitebeard had just gotten a call on the transponder snail form Jinbe of all people, and everyone wanted to know what business the fishman had with them._

"_Do you think it has something to do with the World Government?" Jozu asked._

"_Why the World Government?" Izo responded._

"_Didn't you hear? They were thinking about making him a Warlord." Namur said, sounding proud of his fellow fishman._

"_Even so, if the World Government wanted something from us, they'd come to us themselves. We aren't exactly hard for them to get a hold of." Izo pointed out._

"_Maybe he's warning us of something to come, then?" Vista suggested, and was met with a chorus of thoughtful hums._

"_Pops is coming." Thatch said, catching their attention. As soon as Whitebeard closed the door to his cabin, he was met by a sea of questions. He silenced them by pounding his bisento onto the deck. It wasn't hard enough to crack the wood, but it was loud enough to drown out his fellow crew members._

"_Apparently Arlong took a group of human-hating fishmen, and started heading towards the East Blue of all places." Whitebeard announced once he was sure he had all of their attention._

"_Why are they heading toward the weakest sea?" Marco asked._

"_Jinbe doesn't know, but he called in a favor to have one or two of you go track him. And if Arlong starts something, end it quickly." Whitebeard's gaze flicked around the crowd as if he were deciding who to send._

"_Just don't send Thatch. He'll disappear for months on end." Someone from the back remarked, causing a few of the crewmates to give him a sideways glance._

"_I learned my lesson last time. I'll never go on another impromptu vacation for as long as I live." Thatch said with a frown. Some of his brothers still haven't forgiven him for the scare._

"_I think this will be a good chance for you to prove it to us, Thatch." Whitebeard's suggestion was met by a few complaints from the others._

"_He'll have a clear objective, and he'll be in contact the whole time." Marco said in defense for Thatch who was now feeling very grateful for the phoenix._

"_Go with him Marco!"_

"_Yeah, he can't be trusted on his own just yet!"_

"_You know, that's not a bad idea. Go with him Marco. Thatch, if you do well, you will be trusted to do your next mission alone." Whitebeard said before he sat down in his chair._

_Thatch hung his head, because he knew he didn't have a great defense for himself. "Yes, Pops."_

"_Go now, and be safe my sons."_

XxXxXxXxX

Thatch and Marco stared out at the fishman's ship way up ahead. They had caught sight of them about halfway through Paradise, and had followed them ever since. There was no doubt in their minds that the fishmen knew they were being followed. Thatch guessed that they were just so overly cocky that they didn't bother with them.

"So by my guess, they'll be docking at Conomi Island in a few days." Marco said, as he pulled out a map of the East Blue.

"Why go to such a peaceful island in the weakest sea?" Thatch wondered out loud.

"My guess? They want to start trouble. Maybe it's a good thing Jinbe sent us after them." Maco folded the map and put it away.

"I agree. The people in the East Blue stand no chance against whatever they may be up to, but we can handle them easily." Thatch popped his knuckles in anticipation.

"Typical bullies. They go after people who can't possibly fight back and win." Marco glowered.

They returned to their thoughtful silence as they stared ahead. Yes, they could easily handle them, and they will stop whatever trouble they may start. Whatever their plan was, they were ready.


	2. Defeating Arlong Again

**Here we go with Chapter 2! The fight scene did NOT want to be written. Yes, fight scenes are still my weakness when it comes to writing, but I tried to make it a bit more detailed than the first time. Anyways, enough of my self indulgent ramblings. I hope you enjoy.**

**I do not own One Piece.**

"So hungry." Luffy grumbled, as his stomach woke him up. The last few days have been hard on all of them. They had only caught just barely enough fish to keep their appetites wet, and that only served to make them hungrier in the end. Luffy curled around his complaining stomach in the hopes to soothe the ache, but it did nothing.

Luffy perked up as he smelled something yummy. They were out at sea, though. How was it possible to smell something tasty unless…

"Ace! Sabo! Wake up! We're at the island!" Luffy shook both brothers awake before turning to see the island not too far from their boat that was lazily drifting towards it.

"Wha?" Ace asked as he sat up, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Did you say island?" Sabo sleepily looked ahead, and instantly woke up.

"Yup! And I smell something tasty cooking on it!" Luffy's mouth watered at the thought of food.

"Wow! You must be really hungry if you can smell it from all the way over here." Sabo said, looking hungry himself.

"Well, he'd only eaten small fish for the last few days. I'd be more surprised if he couldn't smell food from here." Ace chimed in more awake than he was a second ago.

"And whose fault is that?" Sabo prodded Ace's side with a finger.

"Are you still going on about that?" Ace shooed Sabo's finger away.

Luffy tuned out the familiar sound of his brothers arguing and focused on the island in front of them. The smell of cooked meat was strong in his nostrils, and his stomach groaned in response. The lack of food during the week was concerning to say the least. His brother's company was the only thing that made the week possible to get through. As long as Ace and Sabo were with him, he knew everything would be alright.

Their company didn't do anything to stop the taunting smell for food just out of his reach at the moment, however. Feeling the last bits of his restraints snap, Luffy decided that he needed to act if he wanted to eat. He gripped the edge of the boat, and pulled himself back.

"Gum gum…" Luffy aimed himself in the general direction of the beach, and pulled himself to the back of the boat.

"Luffy! What do you think you're doing?!" Ace's panicked voice stopped his argument with Sabo.

"You aren't going to-"

"Rocket!" Luffy cut off Sabo with his cry, and he sailed through the air. The beach quickly approached, and he gracefully landed on his face. Not bothered in the slightest by his harsh landing, Luffy pulled himself up and dusted himself off.

"Now to find out where the food is!" Luffy said out loud, and followed his nose. The town was strangely empty, but the food scent wasn't coming from any of those buildings anyway. He spotted the tendril of smoke rising in the distance, and determined that the food was being cooked over there. Having found where he needed to head to, Luffy burst into a sprint. He nearly ran over the two guys heading that way in his haste to get his stomach full.

"Whoa! What's the rush, kid?" The talking pineapple asked as he grabbed Luffy's arm. Luffy ignored him and kept running, and stretched his arm out. He made it pretty far before his arm pulled him back, and he crashed into the pineapple.

"Let go of me, Pineapple Head! I smell meat, and I'm not letting you have any!" Luffy shouted. The poofy haired guy laughed at the Pineapple's annoyed look.

"Listen, kid, there are some bad people over-" Luffy bit down on the guy's hand, and pulled himself free when the grip went slack enough. He ignored the poofy guy's laughter and the pineapple's shouts to come back as he started to run towards the food once again.

He eventually made it to a house that had a crowd of people surrounding it. They were all going crazy about something, and Luffy could smell the food just beyond them. There was clearly only one logical conclusion.

"They're trying to steal the meat! Hey! That's my meat! You can't have any!" he shouted as he aggressively pushed his way in between legs, and through the crowd. He had to push hard to get past some people, and he eventually got through to the front. He saw a bunch of fishy guys standing around, and one long nosed fishy guy was pointing a gun at a pink haired lady. Two girls were off to the side, crying their eyes out.

"Hey, Long Nose! Where's the meat?!" Luffy's demand silenced the crowd behind him, and everyone looked at him strangely. Long Nosed looked the most shocked and angered by his question.

"I asked you a question, Long Nose!" Luffy shouted again, hoping that he would receive an answer this time. Long Nose pointed the gun at him, and glared.

"You worthless, inferior, waste of space, human scum! How dare you talk to a fishman like that?!" He all but growled at Luffy.

"Like what? All I did was ask where the meat is!" Normally a gun in his face would have deterred him at least slightly, but he was so hungry that he no longer cared. All he knew was that this guy knew where that tasty smelling food was, and he wasn't going to let him have it.

"You dare to insult me? Call me names? Do you not know just how inferior you are to me? You don't stand a chance against a fishman!" Long Nose yelled.

"Eh? What's a fishman? Luffy tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What's a fishman? You mean you don't know?"

"No."

"Well allow me to enlighten you. A fishman is someone like me and my crew. Someone who is superior to every lowly human on this planet. And it's the thing that's going to make me King of the Pirates!" Long Nose boasted, and Luffy felt himself grow annoyed at that last statement.

"No, you're not, Long Nose! I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!" Luffy yelled, and the silence came back with a vengeance. Long Nose, looking much angrier than before, steadied the gun aimed at Luffy.

"Shut up and die, you worthless human! My name is Arlong!" He yelled.

"Huh? Armung? That's a dumb name!"

"Not Armung, you idiot! Arlong!"

"Arlumm?"

"Arlong!"

"Armbong?"

"Arlong!"

"Oh! I get it!"

"Finally!"

"It's a mystery name." Luffy said seriously, and Long Nose's face twitched.

"DIE!" He yelled and pulled the trigger.

"LUFFY!" Luffy heard his brothers yell, and he felt the bullet hit. Instead of piercing his skin like he thought, the bullet merely stretched his body back. It stayed stretched back for a second or two before it flung out of his chest and past Long Nose's head. The silence returned a third time, and Luffy rubbed the spot on his chest that the bullet hit.

"Ow! That hurt you jerk!" Luffy pouted.

"Luffy!" both his brothers cried out, and ran over to him. Two fists met his skull, and he turned his pouting face to them.

"Why'd you do that?"

"That's for rocketing over to the beach, and running off!" Ace yelled.

"You'd be dead right now if you weren't made of rubber!" Sabo joined in the yelling.

"But I smelled meat, and I'm soooo hungryyyy!" Luffy's whine was emphasized by the growling of his stomach.

"What's worse, being hungry or being dead?" Ace growled.

Luffy thought the question over. He hated being hungry. His stomach hurt, and all his energy slowly went away. If he was dead, though, he couldn't be King of the Pirates. His stomach growled again, reminding him how much he hated being hungry. He wouldn't be hungry if he was dead, but he couldn't fulfill his dream. Luffy felt his face getting hot, and his head started to hurt. Ace and Sabo shared a concerned glance.

"Are you okay, Luffy?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah, your face is getting all red." Ace pointed out.

"I can't choose! They both suck!" Luffy whined.

"IS IT REALLY THAT HARD FOR YOU TO CHOOSE?!" Ace and Sabo shouted in unison.

"So you're a devil fruit user. What's one doing in the East Blue, and a child no less?" Long Nose asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Ace asked, putting himself between Luffy and the fishman.

"Oh, that's Long Nose, but his real name is a mystery!" Luffy said, and Long Nose gave him a glare in return.

"MY NAME IS ARLONG, YOU MAGGOT!"

Laughter caught their attention, and everyone turned to look towards the back of the crowd. The group of fishmen and humans parted, to show the two guys Luffy ran into earlier. People started to mutter to themselves as they gave the guys a wide berth, and even Long Nose looked to be in shock.

"What the… Why are Whitebeard's division commanders here?" the pink haired lady asked.

"Whitebeard?!" Sabo all but shouted.

"Who's Whitebeard?" Ace asked.

"Whitebeard is the strongest man in the world, and captain of the Whitebeard Pirates. His crew members are really strong, especially the division commanders. If those two really are division commanders, then they are a force to be reckoned with." Sabo explained.

"Really?! The strongest man in the whole world?! Do you think he'll join my crew?!" Luffy bounced up and down excitedly.

"LIKE HELL!" Ace and Sabo shouted, making the commander guy laugh even harder than they already were.

"I like that kid. He has a lot of spirit!" The one with poofy hair choke out between chuckles.

"Agreed." Pineapple Head wiped away a tear before all amusement left his face. The poofy haired guy sensed the sudden mood shift, and sobered up as well. They both stared down Long Nose with unreadable expressions.

"Enough. We have a mission to accomplish." Pineapple Head said, and Poofy Hair nodded in agreement. There was a sense of unease amongst the fishmen, Long Nose especially, though he did his best to hide it.

"Jinbe, out of concern that you may start up something ugly, sent us to follow you just in case you really were up to no good." Pineapple Head started.

"Looking around, we can tell that you have nothing but bad intentions for the people living here. So now we have to honor our promise, and stop you." Poofy Hair pulled out his sword, and Pineapple Head got in a battle stance.

Long Nose shook off any shock that may have still been present before a malicious grin spread across his face. He started to chuckle softly before he erupted into a mad fit of laughter.

"Oh this is priceless! I don't care if you two came from Whitebeard, the marines, or any of the other Emperors. The fact remains that you two are just humans, and I am a fishman. I am leagues above you in power!" Long Nose pointed his gun at Pineapple Head, and pulled the trigger.

Luffy, expecting Pineapple head to fall down dead, gaped in awe when blue flames suddenly appeared, erasing all evidence of a wound. He could tell that Ace and Sabo had pretty much the same reaction he did just by looking at them from the corners of his eyes.

"That's so cool." Luffy couldn't help but whisper.

"Immune to bullets, huh? Fine by me. Chew, bring me my shark saw!" Long Nose barked at Big Lips.

"You'll soon see the true superiority of fishmen! I will send you back to Whitebeard in pieces!" Long Nose grabbed his weapon, a large sword with a bunch of tooth-like blades sticking out from one side.

"Now die!" Long Nose leaped forward, and swung his sword at the two.

Pineapple Head stood as still as a statue, and Poofy Hair barely raised his own sword. Amazingly, Poofy Hair's sword managed to stop Long Nose's in its tracks. It didn't matter how much force Long Nose tried to put behind his blade, because Poofy Hair's block remained strong and impassive. Long Nose growled in frustration.

"Impressive, for a human that is." Long Nose begrudgingly admitted, before he jumped back. Poofy Hair didn't give him any room, though, and swung his own blade which Long Nose barely had time to block.

It was at this point that Pineapple Head decided to step in. Much to Luffy's amazement, Pineapple Head's arms turned into wings of fire. He flew straight for Long Nose's head, and since Long Nose was distracted, he hit his target. Long Nose was sent flying past the crying girls, who ran over to the pink haired lady, and crashed into the tree line. Long Nose took a second or two to get to his feet, and raised his shark saw up. He spat out some blood, and growled at the Whitebeard Pirates who didn't look phased at all.

Pineapple Head and Poofy Hair charged the fishman, who barely had time to block the flying kick, but left himself open for the sword slice. Blood started to seep out of Long Nose's side, and he hissed in pain. He flung Pineapple Head, whose foot was still firmly planted on the shark saw, quite some distance away, and swung at Poofy Hair. Poofy Hair put more power into his block, and a loud cracking noise could be heard from the shark saw before it split in half. Before Long Nose could react to the loss of his weapon, Pineapple Head took the opportune distraction to send Long Nose flying into the air with a solid upswing kick. Long Nose soared pretty high in the sky, and Pineapple Head raced to fly just a bit higher than him. With one more strong kick, Long Nose was sent careening down to the ground. He landed with a loud bang, and dust was scattered all over. When the air cleared, everyone could see Long Nose was out cold in a crater. It was silent for several seconds as everyone processed what had just happened, and a loud cheer came from the humans in the crowd.

"They did it, Bellemere! They saved us!" Luffy turned to see the crying girls hugging the pink haired lady. She, too, was crying while she clutched the girls to her chest like she was afraid she'd lose them if she let go.

Pineapple Head landed next to Poofy Hair, and they all looked at the remaining fishmen who were cowering in fear of what may happen next.

"If any of you still wish to fight, we will gladly take you on." Poofy Hair spoke, and many flinched as if they expected an attack right then.

"W-what's going to happen to Arlong, and us?" one of them boldly asked with only a slight tremble in his voice.

"We were ordered to take out Arlong if he proved to be a problem, so we will personally see to it that he gets turned in to the Marines. We have no orders for his crew. So if you leave with the strict promise of leaving these people alone, we will let you flee." Pineapple Head said as he turned his fire wings back into arms. The fishmen all shared a look, before they booked it towards the docks.

Luffy had to pick his jaw up off the ground. That fight was the coolest thing he'd seen in a while. He adjusted his hat to hide his face, before he stalked up to the division commanders.

"Hey, Luffy! Where are you going?" Sabo asked, but Luffy ignored him. He kept on walking until he stood directly in front of the older pirates.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Luffy cheered with stars in his eyes.

"Well, we're the Whitebeard Pirates. Being awesome is in the job description." Poofy Hair laughed as he scratched his cheek.

"Hey! Join my crew!" Luffy demanded, and was met with two familiar fists to the back of his skull.

"Idiot! You can't just ask pirates from another crew to join you!" Ace yelled in his ear.

"Why not?! I could use a flying pineapple and a fighting poof on my crew!" Luffy pointed to the pirates who were once again laughing at his shenanigans.

"Flying pineapple! I love it!" Poofy Hair chortled.

"Whatever floats your boat, fighting poof!" Pineapple Head elbowed the swordsman.

"Luffy, stop talking to them. We need to stock up provisions." Sabo said as he tried to guide Luffy away.

"Provisions for what?" Poofy Hair asked, laughter dying down quickly.

"For our journey! We're pirates too!" Luffy happily explained, and felt Ace's fist on his skull once again.

"Don't tell them that!" Ace yelled.

"Pirates? Aren't you too young to be pirates?" Pineapple Head raised an eyebrow at them.

"Well, we were going to set sail when we were seventeen, but- MMPH!" Ace and Sabo covered Luffy's mouth before he had a chance to finish what he was going to say.

"Shut up already! That's none of their business!" Ace growled.

"Hey, Luffy, aren't you hungry? Let's see if we can find some meat!" Sabo's suggestion reminded Luffy that he was very hungry. His stomach groaned in protest of being forgotten. Luffy pushed the hands away from his mouth.

"MEAT!" he shouted once he was free from his brother's grip.

"If you're hungry, I just finished cooking." a new voice said from behind them. Luffy turned to see the pink haired lady, and the two girls walking up to them.

She looked Luffy up and down, and said, "It's the least I could do for the kid who distracted Arlong long enough for the Whitebeard Pirates to get here. Also, you look like you could use it."

"You have any meat?" Luffy asked, and pushed his way past Sabo to get in front of her.

"Yup! Roasted duck with tangerine sauce. It's still simmering inside our kitchen. Does that sound good to you?" Pink Hair pointed toward the house that the smell was coming from.

"Yes! Food!" Luffy cheered, and started to run towards the house, only to be stopped by his brothers who grabbed the back of his shirt.

"We appreciate it, miss, but Luffy eats more than ten grown men. I don't want to deplete you of all of your food." Sabo declined politely.

"Would it help if we all brought food of our own?" a random villager asked.

"Yeah, that's a great idea! Let's all make a big feast to thank the Whitebeard Pirates for helping us!" someone else shouted in enthusiasm.

"A celebration sounds nice, but first things first. Genzo and Bellemere need to have their wounds tended to, and the Marines need to be contacted to get Arlong out of here." An old man wearing sunglasses said as he kneeled next to a wounded man on the ground.

"Yes sir, Doctor Nako." several villagers said, and started to help the man Doctor Nako was looking at.

"We can eat after all that nasty business had been dealt with." Nako said.

"But I'm hungryyyy!" Luffy stomped his foot in irritation.

"You went several days with little to no food, you can last a few more hours." Sabo soothed, and Luffy continued to pout.

"Wait, what?!" Poofy Hair asked in surprise.

"Why would you go so long without food?!" Pineapple Head asked in just as much shock as his friend.

"Oh, that's because we didn't pack enough food when we sailed away from- MMPH!" Luffy once again had his brother's hands covering his mouth.

"Dammit, Luffy! Stop telling them everything!" Ace yelled.

"So you're not from this island?" Pineapple Head asked.

"Mind your own business!" Ace glared at the Whitebeard Pirates.

"You know, if you went so long without food I could cook you something. I am a Whitebeard chef afterall." Poofy Hair suggested, and Luffy forcefully shoved his brothers away to get to him.

"MEAT!" he demanded.

The older pirate laughed and said, "Yes, I can cook meat."

"Luffy, no! We are not eating with those guys!" Ace said, and tried to pull Luffy away.

"If you're so hungry, we can just hunt somewhere." Sabo agreed, and Luffy turned to his brothers with a wide smile.

"Right!" he cheered.

"What are you guys in the mood for?" Sabo asked now that the three of them were on board with the same idea.

"Do you think they have bears or gators on this island?" Ace asked.

"Yeah! Gator!" Luffy salivated at the thought of the sweet gator meat melting in his mouth.

"We'll have to look in their forests to see what kind of animals this island has." Sabo said.

"We left our pipes in the boat in our haste to chase a certain someone." Ace frowned at Luffy, and he only smiled back. "We need to stop by the docks and grab them first."

With that they all started to walk away. Luffy was sandwiched between his brothers as they walked and talked. He couldn't wait to eat his fill again. The past week or so was hard on all of them, and he regretted ignoring Sabo's idea of getting just a little more food. But Ace had made it clear that Sabo would be taken away again if they didn't leave ASAP. As much as he hated being hungry, he hated being separated from his brothers even more. He would endure a hundred hungry weeks if it meant they never had to part ways again, at least until he had to gather his own crew. After all, he had a promise to keep.


End file.
